Etymology of Xiongnu names

8
HUNA

In four passages of the Khotan-Saka texts there is reference to a marauding
people called Huna. The older spelling is huna in Z 15.9. In older Khotan-
Saka u replaces old u and u (as tsuta- 'gone' from cyuta-, dura- 'far' from
dura-) but u was the older diphthong au (as stilra- ' large cattle', Avestan
staora-, Zor. Pahl. stor, Bud. Skt loanword sthora-). Later Khotan-Saka
confuses u and u. The passages are the following :

Z 15.9 huna cimgga suplya kye nd hvatdna-kslru bajottandd 'the Huna,
Chinese, the Supiya- who devastated our Khotan land'.

ATT 2.38. 17.4 Spata Sudarrjum's despatch to Samdara: kithi va
ysamgaund huna parry a ' to the city the robber Huna have approached ' .

K T 2.89.38 cu jsdm va gyasti hlya dypma ya tvd valai hfinvastd haj-
sdmddmdd ' what was the queen's gift for them, that they [the envoys] sent
to the Huna'.

KT 4.34.20.5 the King of Khotan's command and message to Spata
Sudarrjam: huna tta khyesva ttumga sem parrya 'the Huna in that
direction among the men of Kasyar have approached to attack Ttumga
Sem (Tonga sen)'.

The xwn of the ancient letter in Sogdian 11 18 and the Mug document
wfiyw ywn (= xwn) ZY cyn 'both Hun and Chinese' will belong here. 48
The Sui-su (circa 600) lists a tribe W K 508, xun<yudn, 0458 b
g'wan; 49 Bud. Skt huna- (rendering Chinese Hiung-nu), KumaonI huniyd
'Tibetan', and the Kalacakra/(M«a-^ra- 50 can be associated with Khotan-
Saka huna. The Hiung-nu dominated Khotan in the fourth century. 51

The discussion of the Chinese Hiung-nu and Latin Hunni has in
Europe proceeded for some 200 years. As archaeologist, O. Maenchen-
Helfen found the Hunni different from the Hiung-nu in China. 52 He,
however, as a result of the analysis of Soviet archaeological reports,
recognised the mainly Europoid physique of the Hiung-nu. From some
Chinese evidence it seems that the Hiung-nu had long yellow beards,

48 V. A. Livsic, Sogdijskij posol v Cace (1960), 102 (A Sogdian envoy in Cac).
45 J. Hamilton,^ (1962), 27.

50 H. Hoffmann, ' Kalacakra Studies 1', Central Asiatic Journal 13 (1969), bzi.

51 P. Pelliot, Notes on Marco Polo, 1 (1959), 411, thought no true Hiung-nu were in
this region in the seventh century.

52 The World of the Huns (1973).

26 lndo- Scythian studies

quite unlike Turks and Mongols. P. Pelliot held the view that the names
Hiung-nu and the many forms of Hunni could hardly be unrelated. 53

Words are quoted in Chinese from the Hiung-nu language and there
exist proper names. One Hiung-nu verse of the tribe W> Kie (G 49 c' +
313 r Mat) is preserved in the Dynastic History with Chinese trans-
lation. 54 Three Turkish interpretations offered ignore the Chinese
translation. Ed. Pulleyblank gave no Ket reading. The leader of the Kie
tribe is a Xu (hu) c$ Iranian.

The earliest Hiung-nu names of the second century B.C. can be
recognised as being of Iranian type. Thus Slit K 1015, 595 t'ou-man
< d'au-mudn, G n8e, 266 a d'u-miwdn resembles the later Huna name
Toramdna (of circa 500 a.d.). The first component tora- is an older form
*taura- beside tura-, for which a first component tu- stands (Old Ind.
tuvi-), an adjective from tau-: tu- 'to increase in size or power'. Below
s.v. Gara the large vocabulary of this base is elaborated. The second
component mana- can be variously traced but perhaps the Khotan-Saka
mdna- 'delight' is more likely than mana- 'thinking' or mana- 'measure'
or the ma- oimdya- 'good fortune' or the base ma- in Zor. Pahl. matak
'basic material'.

The son of T'o-man, 'm © is Mau-tun, K 604, 1144 mau-tun < mdu-
tuan (and mdk), G 1062 b mog, mdu, mao and mdk, mak, mo, 427 j tzvan
(and tu < d'uok), and a second reading Mo-tu from mak-d'uok. ss If Mdu-
tuan is adopted, the word may be from mog-twan from Iranian *baka-
tura- 'truly strong' with Turfan Parth. 'bg 'unsure', Turfan Pers.
bg 'sure', Oss. bdgu 'surely' and bdguddrtd epithet of the strong Narta
heroes. 56

The third name i§_h Lau-sang, K515, 855 lau-sang < lau-ziang,
G 1055 a, 726 a log-diang, can be traced to Iranian either *raux-s- 'to
be bright' or to rauk- 'to rule'. 57 The name of the Sogdian leader An
Lu-san also can be connected with either of those two bases.

The Chinese reported an unverifiable tradition that the Hiung-nu were
ancestors of the Turks, which may mean they originated from the same
remote regions. Contact with Turks is shown by the Turkish word tdnri
' sky ' from Hiung-nu cangli (see below on the Iranian basis, *canyaraka-).

" JA (1920.1), 141.

54 Monumentum G. Morgenstierne, 1 (1981), 25-6.

55 G. Haloun, Zur Ve-ts'i-Frage (1937), 245.

56 Not with Turkish bayatur since the -ur is secondary in Turkish from Iranian -tr-
in *baka-atra- 'true hero', Oss. iraKaBap and Georgian baqat'ar. See Monumentum
H. S. Nyberg, I (1975), Excursus Irano-caucasicus, 35.

57 'North-Iranian problems', BSOAS 42 (1979), 207-8.

Huna 27

Words cited in Chinese sources in Chinese syllabic script with inter-
pretation can also be recognised as Iranian. The following are selected
cases, starting with an assured case of Iranian which illustrates also the
important development of the frequent suffix -aka-, common in Iranian
and also Bud. Skt and NW Prakrit. It passes by way of -aka- (Khotan-
Saka nom. sing, -ai from -aka, plural -a from -aka) to -aga, -aya-, -aya-,
-a'e, -ai, -e, I, i.

1. Hlf K 818, 202 so-to < sdk-ddk, G 770, 790 p sdk-d'dk 'boot'.
This is the Iranian word saxtaka- 'prepared leather' in the Draxt
asorik 35 mocak saxtak dzdtdn 'the leather boot of nobles'. 58 N Pers.
has saxtiydn 'morocco leather'. By the usual changes the word
passed from saxtaka- to *sayde in Ket sdgdi, sdgdi. The Ket has also the
certain case of nan 'bread', N Pers. nan from the older nikdna, nayana-.
The base of saxtaka- is sak- 'to prepare'.

2. W W- K 1208, 527 ts'ang-li < t fi vng-liei, G (1076 a + 746 a), 519
t'vng-liar 'sky' is to be traced to Iranian *canyaraka- with intruded nasal
like Bud. Sogd. wnyr'k in the compound sryw-wnyr'k *saryu-wanyaraka-
' lion's roar', rendering Bud. Skt simha-ndda- with wnyr 'speech',
nasalised from wxr *waxar- as Man. Chr. Sogd. wxr to base vak- ' speak '.
Iranian caxra- 'wheel, circle, sky' gave to Armenian caxarak, and the
nasalised form is in Hiung-nu. The Hiung-nu word is translated by
Chinese 7i t'ien 'sky'. From Hiung-nu the Turks took tanri 'sky' and
'god'.

The development c- > t- occurs in various languages. Bud. Skt cimara-
'iron', known in North-west Indo-Aryan languages, 59 Khowar cutnur,
Nuristam Waigall ciimar, resulted in Turkish timur. Within Iranian
Avestan cadru- is in N Pers. tasu, tasiij, Zor. Pahl. tasiik 'fourth part',
tasom 'fourth', Turfan Pers. ts-b'y 'quadruped' (cadru-pddd), ts-kyrb
'four-bodied'; N Pers. casmlzak, Arabicised tasmizaj 'black eye-
ointment' (casm 'eye'); Avestan tasta- 'cup', Khotan-Saka tcasta-. The
reverse t- > c- also occurs as in tars- 'to thirst', N Pers. tisnah 'thirsty',
Sogd. csn' 'thirst'; Pasto tansarai 'partridge', Ormuri cindzarai (c = ts),
see DKS 122; tarp- 'to steal', Zor. Pahl. truftak 'stolen', Yidya cif-,
caft, Sogd. cf-, but Munjani tarif-, Avestan trafya-.

3. film 'wagon' K 709, 1316 fan-uan < b'iuan--uan, G437 s, 426 d
b'iwsn-'wan, that is fdn-udn. The Iranian for 'wagon' is vartana-,

58 Jamasp-Asana, Pahlavi Texts (1897), 109-14; J. M. Unvala, 'Draxt i asurik',
BSOS 2 (1921-3), 637-78; W. B. Henning, BSOAS 13 (1950), 641-8; Ed. Pulley-
blank, AM, n.s. 9 (1962), 243-4.

59 R. L. Turner, A comparative dictionary of the Indo-Aryan languages (1966),
828.

28 Indo-Scythian studies

in Sogdian wrtn, Oss. Digoron udrdun, Iron udrdon, Zor. Pahl. vartan
(also vas from Avestan zwa- < *varta-), Turfan Parth. wrdywn 'journey ',
Romani vardo, Caucasian Cecen vorda, plural vordanas, Abxaz a-wardan,
Abaza a-wandyr. In Saka -rt- passed in Khotan to -d- = -/- (although in
Tumsuq it became -rd-) and *vadana- could pass to *vuluna- as Old
Pers. wazarka- 'great' passed to N Pers. buzurg, guzurg, for which
Hiung-nu *vur-un (Chinese bun-un) 60 would be a good survival. The
laryngal with n in -n-u- might perhaps suit -/-, rather than -r-. The
changes va- to vu- and bu- can be seen in Khotan- Saka biinaa- 'naked'
from bagnaka-, Oss. bdyndg. The -arta- can be seen in Khotan-Saka
bada- 'captive', Avestan varata-.

4. ^59E K 345, 1017 kia-tou < kap-tgu, G 630 a, 117 a kdp (no spell-
ing), is from the frequent Iranian base kap- 'to contain', as Khotan-
Saka kaba 'a measure', Old Pers. KaTrlQrjs, Zor. Pahl. kapic, Armenian
Parth. kapic, N Pers. kafiz, Oss. k'dbic 'storeroom'. With suffix -ca-,
-caka-, occur N Pers. kafc, kafcah 'spoon', Sogd. kpcky, Waxi kapc (and
other words; see DKS 76, s.v. khausa, and TPS (1954), 146-56). Uigur
Turkish qapcuq 'small bag' is from an Iranian *kapcik, as the name
Lopcuq is from Napcik. With suffix -dta- Baloci has kapdtag 'basket'.
Possibly Mongol xattaya-, -n 'bag, purse', cited by Rubruquis, cap-
targas 'square bag' and Turkish qatiryai belong here. The Hiung-nu
kap-tau could be older *kaptava- or *kavdava-. The -u- suffix occurs also
in the vessel name, Armenian Parth. k'andouk 'wheat bin', N Pers.
kanduk, kandu, Syr. kndwq, Arabic kanduj, Turfan Pers. kndwg, Oss.
Digoron xdndug, Iron xdndyg, Persian in Greek k6v§v; and also in
Khotan-Saka phaysdve (DKS 259).

5. $1 'stone', K73 kie, (486 + 73) kidt, G kiat. Iranian has deriva-
tives of Indo-European ak- and ak- 'sharp' to name 'stone'. From ak-,
Iranian as-, Avestan asan-, asanga-, asman-, Khotan-Saka samgga-,
Turfan Parth. 'sng, Zor. Pahl., N Pers. sang and without -n- direct -aka
Zor. Pahl. sag, adjective sagen, beside saken 'coralline', Khotan-Saka
saka-, samka- 'coral' rendering Bud. Skt pravdda-, Sogd. snk. The base
ak- is in Lit. akmud 'stone' beside asmuo. From ak(h)~ Khotan-Saka has
chaskdm 'pointed top, forehead', chaska- 'barley' ('the pointed grain'),
connected with N Pers. kask and Armenian Parth. k'asken ' barley-bread '
(DKS 107), Greek aKoar-fj. Here kata- will be from ak-: k- with suffix
-ata- as in Avestan urvata-, Old Ind. vrata-. With -t- note also Latin
cot-, nom. sing, cos 'whetstone'.

60 For Chinese -n for foreign -r- and -/-, see Ed. Pulleyblank, AM, n.s. 9 (1962),
219, against a contrary opinion.

Huna 29

6. W. K 'sword', K 391, 577 king-lu < kieng-luo, G83if, 766 1' kieng-
gldg. That is *keng( )lag with Sogdian ynyrh *xangard-, Chr. Sogd.
xgr (assuring initial x-), Wax! xwgdr, Yidya xugor; with Arabicised
g > /, N Pers. xanjar, whence loanwords Lakk xarzan, Russian xinzal.
The Turkish form is qingiraq 'knife'. The Iranian base is (s)kharg-.

7. MWL 'tent', K471, 579 k'iung-lu < k'iung-liwo, G 901 e, 69 q
k'iung-lio. This is *kung(a)rii from *kunakdraka-, Bud. Man. Sogd.
kwn'k'r *kunakdr ' bier ', Pali kutdgdra- ' bier ', more generally a ' pinnacled
building', Bud. Skt kutdgdra-, pseudo-Tokhara A kurekdr, Khotan-Saka
kulatdra-, kuldra-, kuldra-. The suffix -u from -oka- occurs variously in
Indo-Aryan, Bud. Skt kremeru-, kremeruka- 'red', Tibetan kekeru, 61
Chinese ^=f til ' pomegranate ', K 938, 565 zo-liu < nzidk-lhu (but without
radical 69) G 777, 11 14 p niak-liog, Sogdian n'r'kh *ndraka-; Zor. Pahl.
andr, N Pers. attar, ndr, ndrvdn; Khowar veznu 'garlic', (from usna-
' sharp'), sargu 'dung', isperu 'white', and participles in -du and -rii
from -taka-. 62 - For Sogdian kwn'k'r with -n ..-r from -r ..-r, note also
Khotan-Saka s.v. candarno, mamgdra-, ysamgdra-.

8. RH 'excellent horse, mule', K 440, 890 kiie (but without radical
187), t'i < kiwet-d'iei, G312, 866 kiwat-d'ieg. 63 That is, Hiung-nu
*kavdtaka- (> -e) to Old Iranian kavdta- from kau- 'young, vigorous'
and 'small'; a royal name Kavdta-, N Pers. QubdS; Zor. Pahl. kavdh
' small cattle' contrasting with stor ' large cattle', Pazand kafiddah 'young
animal ' , Wax! kudt ' young ass ' , BalSci kawdt ' camel of three years ' . The
base kan- had similar meanings. In pseudo-Tokhara wire 'young'
belongs with Iranian vlra- 'man'. The reading kavdt- for Chinese kiwat
recalls the Chinese ffi 'i- for the Iranian ka- of Qdmul, Sogd. Ancient
Letter 11 2 ktn'yS, Turkish Qamil.

9. fill Ml 'son', K426, 1 1 33 ku-t'u < kuo-d'uo, G41 c, 82 d' kwo-d'o
is preserved in the phrase W-W-&M ts'ang-li ku-t'u 'son of heaven'
translating the Chinese ?c f" t'ien-ts'i, Bud. Skt deva-putra. Here the
Turkologist could only suggest qut 'fortune'. For ts'ang-li see no. 2
above.

Here ku-t'u can be taken for *kudu- or older *kutu but it may be either
ku- with suffix -tu or kut- with -u from -aka-.

The Iranian base is kau-: ku- 'to be small', in meaning like Indo-
European (Pokorny, 842-3) pou-: pu-, pu-, in Got. f aw ai 'few', Latin

61 ' Hdrahuna' , Asijtica, Festschrift Friedrich Welter (1954), 15.

62 G. Morgenstierne, Report on a linguistic mission to Afghanistan (1926), 72, 74;
'Khowar morphology', NTS 14 (1947), 7, 27.

63 TPS (1954), 146; BSOS 7 (1935-6), 69; Zatspram, Vicltaklha (1964), 24;
Pahlavi Rivayat accompanying the Ddtastan 1 demk, ed. B. N. Dhabhar (1913), 160.

30 Indo- Scythian studies

paucus, Greek Travpos, Got. fula 'foal', Old Ind. putra-, Avestan pudra-
'son', Latin puer. Thus Avestan has kutaka- 'small', Zor. Pahl. kotak,
kuc (see above on kavdta-). With -r- Zor. Pahl. has kurrak, Armenian
Parth. k'oufak 'foal', N Pers. kurrah 'small animal', Kurd kurr 'son'
(-rr- from -rn-), Sarikoli cur, cor 'strong young man' (c- = Old Iranian
k-), Old Ind. kudaka-, NW Prakrit kudaga- 'boy'. 64 Sogdian has whwr-
' kinsman' and Ossetic has the verbal Digoron igurun igurd, 'be born',
Iron giiryn, Dig. igurca 'birth', \ron giirdz 'embryo'. Ormuri has -/- in
kuldn 'son', kulak 'boy'. P. Pelliot proposed to compare Tungus xutu
'child' but that is traced to hut'e and words commencing with/)-. 65

For the form ku-t'u, note the Indo-European seu-: su- 'to bear young'
(Pokorny, 913), Old Ind. sutu- 'act of bearing', Celtic Old Ir. suth
(*sutu-s) 'birth, fruit' beside the derivatives with -n- Old \nd.sunu-, Got.
sunus, Avestan hunu-, and with -i- Greek vlos, pseudo-Tokhara B soya,
Ase.

Possibly the verbal base is in Avestan hakurana- glossed by Zor. Pahl.
ham-kartarih 'acting together'. Thus ku-t'u with suffix -u- has support
in preference to *kutaka- (as Avestan kutaka- 'small').

10. S§ 'fermented mare's milk', K411 lo, lau < lak, Jap. raku,
G 766 p gldk. Ed. Pulleyblank rightly rejected B. Karlgren's connexion
with the entirely different distilled spirits Arabic 'araq with initial
laryngal. 66

The connexion has been noted in Khotan-Saka of ragai (DKS 356)
with Ossetic rong, older rang, in the Kartvel languages Svanetian,
Mingrelian and Georgian Racinskij dialect rang-i. This rong was the
favourite drink of the Narta heroes in the Ossetic epic tales. The Khotan-
Saka ragai is still conjectural in meaning, but it seems to be an intoxicant
drink, hence for nomadic Saka peoples 'fermented mare's milk', the
Avestan hurd-, Zor. Pahl. hur, glossed by asp-pern 'mare's milk', the later
Turkish qumis. Ed. Pulleyblank did not identify the word outside
Chinese. The Khotan-Saka retained also the word hurd- (DKS 492).

The etymon of ragai is not established. It could be from a base rak-,
rank- or rangaka- from a base rang-. The Ossetic rong could derive from
rank- or rang-, but not rak-. If the archaic Chinese gldk had retained g-
from Indo-European glak- as in Greek ya\a 'milk', the Iranian *rank-
could have lost initial y- and so be connected.

64 T. Burrow, The language of the Kharosthi documents from Chinese Turkestan

(1937), 83.

65 Sravitel'nyj slovar' tunguso-man'czurskix jazykov, 11 (1977), 357.

66 AM, n.s. 9 (1962), 249-50.

Huna 31

11. fiffife 'dried curds, hard cheese', K 613 (no radical 86), 1136
mi-[li] < miek-[liei] (no lud), G 859, 1241 o miek-lud (and miek-liei). This
can be traced to an Iranian *mildka- from *mizdka-, older miyz-, in
Khotan-Saka bisi, best (b < m) 'curds', YaynabI (New Sogdian) mesin,
Oss. Digoron mesin, Old Ind. dmiksd. The -/- derived from -z- as in mula-
'rat' from *muza- from wwi and in the loanword bdl-samgha-, Bud. Skt
bhiksu-sangha-. Kroraina had bhighu-samgha-, but had also bhuksu-,
which is in Uigur bur- in bur-sang, Mongol bur-sang 'community of
monks' (misinterpreted by bur 'Buddha'; there is of course no 'Com-
munity of Buddha' or 'Buddhas'). An -/- also replaced -z- in Bud. Skt
usnisa- 'tuft', Khotan-Saka usnila-, Uigur Turkish usnir. The Khotan-
Saka ula- ' camel ' is also from *uza-, to be compared with Old Pers. usa-.

12. f£ 'fat, fatty matter, butter', K 70 su < suo, G (434 a + 46 d') so.
Clearly it is connected with Iranian fsau- : fsu- 'to fatten' in Avestan
fsutd-, pdsuta- ' cheese ', glossed by Zor. Pahl. panlr, Suynl x u ~ m yu-mab
'stale buttermilk to ferment cheese', (from *fsu-mddya-) with dialectal
Xufi xe-miS, Bajui xi-md. From fsau- Avestan has fsaoni- 'fattening',
verbal fsuya- 'to feed',fsuyant- 'fattener', Zor. Pahl. fsonenitan. The
fsuyant was developed to express 'husband' in Khotan-Saka ksundaa-.
From fsuyaka- came Yidya sife, sfui ' husband ', Zor. Pahl. swy *suy. The
fsonisn is glossed by Parsi-Skt sphitayitum. Ossetic has Digoron sojnd
'fat', adjective songun, sojndgun, Iron soj, gen. sing, sojy, sojdzyn. If this
has older son- it is ambiguous since -an- passed to -on-, and -aun- passed
to -mm-. From -dun- one could expect -on-. Wanetsi has cuk 'butter' and
possibly c- has derived from ts- from//-, as Khotan-Saka replaced fs-
by xs- (written ks-). Ossetic has s- from various older sounds (Indo-
European k-, ts-, ks-, ki-, hu-).

The failure to note the dominance of Iranian till the year 1000 in the
Tarim Basin is shown (Ed. Pulleyblank, AM, n.s. 9 (1962), 254) by the
citation of Mongol tosun, Turkish yay, pseudo-Tokhara B salype, A salyp,
Tib. mar for 'fat', without any inquiry as to Iranian.

13. HS8 'clarified fermented mare's milk', K 890, 91 t'i-xu < d'iei-
yuo, G 866 i, 49 a' tieg-g'o (and variants). In this d'iei-guo can be seen
at once Avestan tayu- familiar in tdyuri-, tiliri- ' sour milk ' glossed by Zor.
Pahl. tyl *ter 'cheese' from the base tau-: tu- 'to swell'; Pasto tomna,
toma 'rennet', Oss. Digoron taudg, Iron tudg 'sour', Dig., Iron dntduun,
dntud'make sour, brew', Dig. dntdudn, Iron dntudn 'ferment'. Khotan-
Saka has ttavamdya 'bile', rendering Bud. Skt pitta-, and has ttilra-,
ttaujai 'cheese(P)'. These are listed under teu- by Pokorny, 1083, with
Greek rvpo? 'cheese' and Old Bulg. tvarogu 'coagulated milk'. Ed.

32 Indo- Scythian studies

Pulleyblank proposed to trace the word also in Mongol cige, cigen from
(*tigdn) 'fermented mare's milk'.

14. /1, 7Ji@8, fllfS 'milk fluid', with uncertain readings. G 1188 c
tung, tung, tung (not t'ung), K 411 lo, lau < lak, G 766 p gldk; K 1150
t'ung < d'ung, G 1176 h d'ung, K 592 ma < ma, G40 a ma. That will
give tung, tung-lau, tung-ma from d'ung, d'ung-ma. The Iranian words for
'milking' and 'milk' are from the base Indo-European Pokorny, 271,
dheugh-. Ossetic has Digoron dony, Iron donq, doy 'a once milking'
showing a nasal intrusion. The verb is Oss. Dig. docun duyd, Iron ducyn,
dyyd 'to milk', Zor. Pahl., N Pers. doz-, doxtan, Avestan duyda-. The
noun is dauga- in Turfan Pers. and Parthian dwwg, Zor. Pahl. dwg, N Pers.
doy, Waxi Sty. Old Indian has dohati, dogdhi, dugdha-, doha-. The Oss.
Dig. rdnyd, Iron ranq, ray ' row, line ' shows the same variant spellings.

There are six Hiung-nu titles which have survived in Turkish and
Tibetan. Titles with x- are not originally Turkish, which had q- but no x-.

1. The supreme Hiung-nu title was H^F K 968, 13 17 tan-ii, and
san-ii (san is assured by an old gloss) from tdn-jiu and zian-jiu,
G 147 a tan, with radical 32 dian, with G 97 agizvo, Ed. Pulleyblank had
tan-ii and saw in it another form of tarxan, rejecting a proposal of G.
Clauson to see in the title the Kusan yavuga. This yavuga-, from *ydvuka-
' troop-leader ' , is one of the Iranian titles of the Kusans. It was written in
the Han-su ifcflc K 128, 79 hi-xou < xidp-ym, G 675 q, 113 a xiap-g'u
which is clearly Iranian yavuka-. This title is carried far down the
centuries into Persian histories. Kusan has yavuga, ya'uga, Greek
ZAOOT, Kroraina yapgu, Mahrnamay yafiyu, zaftyu, and Arabic jabyu.
In Turkish it is yapyu. The vowel -a- of the Turkish transmission is
valuable as proving the Iranian -a- which the Kharostrl script leaves un-
certain, since the Turkish has -a- for Iranian -a-, as in bay from baga-. The
base yau- 'to assemble troops' gave also *fra-yauna- in Khotan-Saka
hayiina- 'companion, friend' (DKS 465).

Since the initial y- varies within Iranian, from a Chinese zidnjiu one
could reach back to ydyu - < yavu- and so have a title direct from the
base jaw- without the -ka- suffix. The form *ydvu- would be the common
type with long -a- in the base with suffix -u- forming agent nouns and
instrumental nouns. Old Ind. kdru-, 67 Greek /capu| attest its early

67 For kdrti- and the related words, see BSOAS 20 (1957), 41-4. For kar- 'to sing',
note its survivance karya- in Sarikoll clr-, clrd 'to sing' (with c- from Old Iranian £-),
and probably also in Avestan karapan- a priestly non-Zoroastrian title 'incantator',
with the Armenian Parth. loanword karap, gen. sing, karapoy 'swan' as the 'singing'
bird, like Old Engl, swin 'song' and swan 'the bird swan'. Chorasmian has krb- 'to
murmur prayers'.

Huna 33

development and Avestan bdzu-, Khotan-Saka bdysu- 'arm', shows its
maintenance. Such a *ydvu- would mean again 'troop-assembler', and
'leader'.

To take zian-jiu for ydvu- one would assume an intermediate -uiu
yielding -uu, with loss of the nasal.

2.ilf, tM IT K 957, 296, 447 ta-kan, ta-kuan < d'dt-kdn, d'dt-kudn,
G 271 b, 139 a d'dt-kdn, d'dt-kzvdn represents tarxan, tarqan, tarkdn,
tarxdn (the x- being non-Turkish). It is possible to trace the base tark-
or tark(h)- to Indo-European tolkv- (Pokorny, 1088) 'to speak, name'
used for 'to command' (as in mrau- 'to speak' for 'command' in the
Saka title murunda- 'commander'). From Indo-Iranian tark- there is
Old Ind. tarka- 'pondering, logic', tarkayati 'to assume, ponder'. I
proposed in 1969 to connect Ossetic tdrxon 'judging, counselling'. It
is used in the translation of the Georgian Vep'xis t'qaosani to translate
sa-vazirod 'action of a vazir ("adviser")'. Ossetic -on can come from
either -an- or- dun- (and shortened -aun), so that the title of the Sogdian
Nezuk at the time of the Arab invasion of Transoxiana, trxton, could
be allied to Ossetic.

For tarxan the spellings are Orkhon t a rq tt n, plural t a rq a t, Turfan Pers.
trxdn, Khotan-Saka ttarkana, and later, when suprascript -r- was
replaced by the aksara ra, ttarakana (JRAS (1939), 91), pseudo-Tokhara
B 377 b 3 tarkhdne, B 289 b 5 drsldm tdrkhdnetn, Sogd. trx'n, Byzantine
Greek rapxav, rapKavos, rep/cavo?. 68 Heftal coins have TARKA,
TARAKA. Mongol has d'rq'n, and Manchu darhan as part of a name.
I note that tarxan is compared with Ossetic tdrxon in V. Abaev's Ossetic
Etymological Dictionary (1979).

For the title Mahrnamay 98 tmg'ntrx'n and Menandros Tay/xd, rapxdv,
and the Parthian title tgm-dr, s.v. Ttuh'sa. 69

3. dagyaina, dagyimna, digyimna (KT 2.77.31, 33, KT 2.45.63;
KT 2. 126. 10). Avar and thence Turkish tdgin, tigin, Chinese #© (for
ii)) K811, 523 t'a-h < d'dk-hk, K 389 k'in < g'isn, hence t'a-kin <
d'9k-g'pn, G 961 h', 928 f, 480 x d'dk (bk)-g'ian. Other transcriptions are
in J. Hamilton, Les Ouighours (1955), 159, s.v. tegin (ti-yin, to-yiri). On

68 G. Moravcsik, Byzantino-Turcica II (1943), 253.

65 The title has been much discussed, see Ed. Pulleyblank, AM, n.s. 9 (1962), 256;
V. Abaev, Ossetic Etymological Dictionary, s.v. tdrxon; G. Moravcsik, Byzantino-
Turcica, I and 11 (1942-3), s.v. rapKavos; B. Laufer, Loan-ivords in Tibetan (1918);
Sino-Iranica (1919), 592-4; Ed. Chavannes, Documents sur les Tou-kiue (Turcs)
occidentaux (1903), 164, 239; K. H. Menges, 'The oriental elements in the vocabulary
of the oldest Russian epic, The Tale of Igor", Word 7 (1951), supplement, 55-56;
G. Doerffer, Turkische und mongolische elemente im Neupersischen, n (1965), 46off.

34 Indo-Scythian studies

coins in Brahml script there is tigina and on Heftal coins SPI TAKING),
E'AYO, Turfan Pers. Mahrnamay 19 tqyn, 23 tkyn, Orkhon tgit, Sogdian
inscription Karabalgasun 70 tykyn, late Sanskrit thakkana (Rajatarangini),
Mongol cigin in Od-cigin. The title was glossed in Chinese by 'wise,
venerable'.

In form this title would suit an Iranian *takina- Zor. Pahl. tg *tag or
*tak explained by both nev ' good ', and taklk ' bold ', Pazand Oagl glossed
by Parsi-Skt sura- 'bold'. This is the base of Avestan taxma- 'bold', Zor.
Pahl. taxtn, N Pers. tahm, taxm, tarn, Kroraina tama- in the name tama-
aspa, taxmdspa-. The variation of suffixes -in and -ik is frequent, as in
Zor. Pahl. zamik, N Pers. zami, zamin ' earth '. N Pers. yasmin, Armenian
Parth. yasmik 'jasmine'. 71

An older spelling 72 of this title is claimed by Ed. Pulleyblank in the
Hiung-nu word JH# K 1187, 340 t'u-k'i < d'uo-g'ji, G 45 i', 552 1
d'o-g'ier, glossed by Jf if. hien-uang 'wise, worthy prince', the title of
the heir apparent. In Ed. Pulleyblank's system of Middle Chinese
dou-gii for archaic dah-ge{8) = *dd-ge is offered for tegin. This seems
to bring down archaic -ah for uo too late. The t'u < d'uo is rather
for Iranian tu-, to- 'great' or 'good'. The second syllable k'i < g'ji
will be Iranian kai, the older Avestan kavi-, Khotan-Saka kai, plural
kd epithet of prince (rrispura-) and monk (drya-). For tu- 'great', see
s.v. Gara.

4. Khotan-Saka KT 2.45.63 khaha:nd, ibid. 65 ha:ha:na (possibly also
KT 2.25. 29.2 khahani) is the xdgdn, for the Hiung-nu, not the supreme
ruler who w r as the W- "F san-ti. The title is Avar (whence Turkish with its
x-, not <?-). 73 It is attested in a Chinese reference to the T : u-yii-hun
successors to the Ha-za. The title has been handed down in many forms.
For the fifth-century Avar the Chinese wrote "TfP K414, 296 k'o-
xan < k'd-ydn, G 1 a, 139 t k'd-g'dn, Mahrnamay 'wyywr xng"n 'Xangan
of the Uigurs', Sogdian Mug 74 document y'y'w, Armenian xak'an,
Georgian xaqan-i, xayan-i, cinizis qaen-i, qeenn-i, Byzantine Greek
Xaydvos, Hebrew kgn, Latin cacanus (rex auarum cagan: 'North-Iranian
problems', BSOAS 42 (1979), 209), Old Hungarian chakan (ch = x)<
Juvaini qddn, Syriac k'qn. 75 Syriac had also k'n, rV kdn rabbd ' great Kan'.

70 V. A. Livsic, Kara-Tepe, 11 (1969), 71.

71 AM, n.s. ii (1964), 20-1.

72 AM, n.s. 9 (1962), 257.

73 Earliest for kagan circa 400 a.d. ; G. Clauson, An etymological dictionary of pre-
thirteenth century Turkish (1972), 611.

74 V. A. Livsic, Sogdijskij posol v Cace (i960), 102.

75 J. Marquart, Osteuropdische und ostasiatische Streifziige (1903), 482.

Huna 35

Russian had koganii, kaganu, xaganu. lb Vladimir Iaroslav of Kiev
(eleventh century) had the title kaganil. An Iranian base is proposed
below.

5. Here should be inserted another word to be separated, a Hiung-
nu title ijfE^f' K 120, 1317 xu-ti < yuo-jiu, Jap. go, u, G 784 k, 97 a
g'wdg-giwo. Ed. Pulleyblank (AM, n.s. 9 (1962), 91, 260) adopted an
archaic y(w)d-yd and conjectured a source olxagan. Tested by Iranian it
would be later yuo-jiu which looks like Iranian hwvu(ka) or hdvu(ka) from
the base hau-: hu-, which resulted in words for 'supreme' and 'ruler'.
Thus Khotan-Saka hvdsta- 'chiefest' (DKS 507), hvdstye rrhie 'of the
chief queen', rendering Bud. Skt agra-mahisi (the -a- of hvdsta- is from
-at-), Tumsuq Saka hvesta-, Avestan hvoista- (glossed by Zor. Pahl. mas
'greatest'), Bud. Sogd. ywystr, ywycst 'supreme', ywystk 'teacher', Man.
Sogd. xwystr-, xwstr 'superior', Munjani xuskye 'teacher', Oss. Digoron
xestar, Iron xistdr 'elder, eldest, chieftain'. The Kusan imperial name
Huviska- is likely to derive from this same base, attesting the grade huv-.

6. Khotan-Saka has a Turkish title hana, ha:nd, ham:nd, hamnd. Here
ha: represents either x- or y-, yielding a foreign *xdna-. KT 2.98.1 50-1
has mista hana ' great xdna- ruler ' (also KT 2.94.9 and KT 2.96.92). This
is like the seventh-century Heftal title 77 in Chinese i-Z'tf t'ai-xan,
K963, 296 t'ai-xan < t'di-ydn, G 317 d, 139 f t'dd-g'dn. Zor. Pahl. k'n,
Armenian ian ( = yan) in el-ian for il-khan, Tibetan gan in se-chen gan
' Qubilai', Marco Polo kaan, Latin chaam, N Pers. xan xdn-um attest the
same title. It has been thought to be a contraction of xagan (supported
by Latin chaam with loss of -y-), but it is clearly an inferior title and
Khotan-Saka has both ha:ha:na and hana.

7. Khotan-Saka KT 3.137 Dandan ^yasdsari khattund, KT 2.78.47-8
mastara hattuna 'great queen', KT $. 271. 578.1 hdttuna is the 'lady,
queen'. Elsewhere it is Turfan Pers. Mahrnamay 149, 150, 151, 152
x'twn, x'twn, pseudo-Tokhara A 399 hkhdttum, 302 b 8, 303 a 6 kdttum,
Bud. Sogd. y'ttwnh, Chinese "lfi$k K 414, 342, 1143 k'o-xo-tun < k'd-
yd-tuan, Jap. ka, ga, ton, G 1 a, 15 j, 464 p k'd-g'd-tzcan; nTJJt k'o-
tun < k'd-tum, Turkish Orkhon xatun, Codex Comanicus chaton, Al-
Kasyari qdtun, Tib. kha-thun, Armenian xat'oun, Georgian xat'un-i.
Bud. Sogdian ywt'ynh will be different connected with xvatdw ' lord ', and
the feminine suffix -aind-.

76 K. H. Menges, 'The oriental elements in the vocabulary of the oldest Russian
epic, The Tale of Igor", Word 7 (1951), supplement, 32-5.

77 J. Markwart, A Catalogue of the Provincial Capitals of Eranshahr (Sahrlha I
Erdn) (1038), §g; Wehrot und Arang (1938), 47 note.

36 Indo- Scythian studies

From this xatun, and another Hiung-nu title for the chief lady, a base
xat- can be extracted : Chinese M ft *a-tsi G 270, 867 a, 'dt-dieg or
'at-tieg, later 'dt-zie or 'dt-tsie (K 1323 has no a, but 879 tsi < tsie). The
initial laryngal will be a foreign velar k- or x- ; the final -£ should survive
as a velar, foreign -k-. The foreign word would be *xdtika- in Iranian,
the same xat- as in xatun but with the suffix -ika- instead of -auna-.

The dialectal qasun and <?aom could be older *xdtsuna- and *xatsuna
from a *xdtt-, *xddi-. The replacement of Iranian 0i- is very various.
In North Iranian Ossetic replaced Oi- bye (= ts-) as in dedg 'true'
< *ha6ya-, Khotan-Saka had haththa-, Old Pers. hasiya-, Avestan
haidya-, Zor. Pahl. -h- < -6- J*

8. Iranian knew reduplication either with a single vowel as Avestan
cakana, or with long -a- as in Zor. Pahl. w'pl vd/iar, N Pers. bdvar ' trust ',
or with full syllable as N Pers. varvarah 'squirrel'. Hence the Avar title
ko.vko.vos, capcanus can be taken with kan- in kau-kdna- or kaf-kdna- as
an Iranian form. The Mongol has prefixed tep- to the loanword tengri as
a name, Teptengri. 79

9. Here is an essay to test a possible Iranian source for xdgdn, xdn and
xatun. For this the Khotan-Saka khahana-, ha:ha:na- are convenient
starting-points although they have come into Khotan with Altaic sounds.

The frequent base Avestan han- : hdta- is concerned with ' gain ' and
'victory'. The gain of the mizda-, originally the reward for fighting,
Avestan mizda-, Old Ind. mldha-, Greek /xio-#d?, Old Engl, meode was
'payment for services'. The Avestan 'winner' becomes the possessor of
nmdna- 'house', vis- 'settlement', zantu- 'tribal land' and dahyu-
' country', and always fsu- 'cattle'. The fsumant- 'cattle-owner' has
survived in the Caucasus to the present Ossetic Digoron fusun, fussun,
Iron fysym 'host to guests', adjective fysymdg, Abxaz d-pswama, Abaza
psuma, Adyge bdsdtn (bysym), Qabardei bdsdm 'host', Ingus fusam
'dwelling', Cecen husam (xlycaM), plural husamas.

The Avestan text reads in Yast 13.15 1 paoiryan tkaes'5 yazamaide
nmdnanam-ca visam-ca zantunam-ca dahyunam-ca nmananhdno visdno
zantusano dawhusano 'we revere the early teachers, house-winners,
settlement-winners, land-winners, country-winners of the houses, and
settlements, tribal lands and countries'. These winners are also the
nmdno.pati-, vis-pati-, zantu-pati-, and dahyu-pati-, with pati- 'owner'.

78 G. Doerffer, Tiirkische und mongolische Elemente im Neupersischen, in (1967),
140; L. Bazin, TP 39 (1950). 3°5-

79 D. Sinor found the same reduplication in Altaic, but Avar is pre-Turkish; see
JRAS (1954). I74-84-

Huna 37

The participle hdta- is quoted from the Frahang i oim 24 and else-
where is in the compound hdta. mar dni- 'remembering merits'. The
verb is frequent in present hana-, participle hanant-, with redupli-
cated perfect hanhan-, and causative hanaya-. It occurs with mizda- six
times. 80

The Old Indian san- is frequent, aorist sanat, present sanoti, participle
sdta-, noun sdti- 'possession'. The adjective RV 2.23.7 manuka- is an
epithet of the wolf, sdnuko vfkah 'ravening wolf. It recalls the Khotan-
Saka birgdm ttralaphdm 'the rapacious wolves' (from ati-laf-). The
accent on the third syllable does not prevent this drra^ word expressing
the agent, although differing from ghatuka-. The agent sdnitar- 'victor'
has the usual suffix -tar-. Greek han-, hen- is applied to war and posses-
sions in avvcns 'success', evapa 'spoils', eVrea 'armour', avOevTrjs 'inde-
pendent lord', avvevTt]? 'lord'.

For the title of ' lord, lady, ruler ' the reduplicated hanhan- or hdhan-
would give 'having won, victor, possessor, lord', exactly like xdgdn from
*hahana-. If Turfan Pers. xng"n *xangdn is archaic it would be Iranian
hanhdna-. The xdn, lower rank, would be unreduplicated hdna- 'lord'.
The Iranian participle hdta- is then traceable in the title hdtuna- beside
the hdtika- ' lady ' as the woman possessor or as the woman gained as a
wife. Note how in Old Indian bhoja- from bhunakti 'enjoy, possess'
became a royal title. The older spelling *xdxdtund- is then the redupli-
cated form for the woman as for the man in *hdhdna-. The foreign x- of
xdt- for Iranian h- passed later into Turkish q-.

To associate with xatun, from North- West Iranian, Alanian, a feminine
word ending now in -tun is preserved, with many other Alanian words, in
the Veinax languages Tus (Batsbi), Cecen and Ingus. This word is Tus
pst'un, bst'un (ncTiyn) 'princess', Cecen stu, base stun-, plural stilnas,
Ingus suv, base suvn-, sun-, plural suvnas, that is the 'wife of a prince'.
In the sense 'wife' the word occurs in Tus bst'u-dad, Cecen stun-da
'wife's father' and Cecen, Ingus ust-da 'wife's father' and ust-nana
'wife's mother' (with stu through *ustu- to ust-).

To show the source of this ps fun ' wife, wife of a prince' it is necessary
to cite two other Iranian words. The Alanian (Ossetic cited briefly on
p. 36 above), Digoron fussun, fusun. Iron fysym, adjective fysymdg, is
rendered by Russian xozjain 'host' in contrast to the 'guest'. An older
form is Abaza psuma, and Abxaz d-pswsma 'host', with Cerkes Qabardei
bdsdm, Adyge bdslim, Ingus fusam 'refuge, dwelling', Cecen husum, husam
'dwelling', husam-dd 'master of the house, head of family', husamxo

80 For an unknown reason the base han- is missing under sen- in Pokorny, 906.

38 Indo- Scythian studies

'inhabitant'. It has been acceptable to trace this to the equivalent of
Avestan fsumant- 'owner of cattle', hence a householder.

The second word is Avestan fsuyant- ' husbandman ' as rearer of cattle,
fsaoni- 'fat' and verbal fsaonaya- 'fatten', Zor. Pahl. fsonisn, fsonenitan
with Avestan, fsutd-, posuta- 'fatty stuff (cheese)'. From fsau-:fsu- come
the words for 'husband' in Khotan-Saka ksundaa- (ks- replacing older
//-) in various spellings (DKS 69), and *fsuya- and -aka- in Zor. Pahl.
suy-, N Pers. sui-, Yidya sfui and sif'e. To this can be added the Swan
bsfw, bwsV, p'ust' 'prince', quoted as pusthj by R.von Erckert, Die
Sprachen des kaukasischen Stammes (1895; repr. 1969), no. 134. It will
derive from *fus(u)-ta-, older *fsuta-. The third pistra-, Zor. Pahl. pesak
'class' is called vastryo .jsuyant- .

In Tus pst'un 'prince' and bstu-dad 'wife's father' the derivation will
be from the same fsau- in form: *fs'uvatduni from participle -at- (present
-ant-) with a feminine suffix -aunl, later -duni, like Avestan -duni and
-aoni in asdum and asaoni, feminine to masculine -dvan- in asavan-,
asaonam. The Tus pst'un 'wife' is then from *fsutann(i)-, whence Cecen
stun- and ust-, Ingus suvn-, sun- and ust-. It remains uncertain whether
the present participle *fsuyant-, *fsuvant- or a derivative by -ta- is
concerned. Avestan has both f suy ant and fsutd-. The inflexion of Tus
pst'u is given in Ju. D. Deseriev, Batsbijskij Jazyk (1953), 76, with nom.
sing, pst'uin, and (with the plural -i)pst'ei (for *psfui).

This explanation looks back to the one and a half millennia of Iranian
presence in the Tarim Basin as on the Oxus and in the Hara land (Ordos)
before the Turks created Turkistan, after centuries of penetration.

' Victory ' is a prerogative of royalty emphasised by the Khotan royal
family title Bud. Skt Vijaya- and Vijita-.

10. One further word deserves reference here. The Hiung-nuword for
'slave' is transmitted in Chinese H K 1096 tsi < tsie, G 358 m tsidr. il
If this is taken to be cava- in the Armenian Parth. car ay ' servant' (from
*cardti-, with c- from c-), it has the base kar-, car- 'to go around, attend
upon, serve' in Avestan carditi-, -tikd- ' servant'. A similar use is of Oss.
Digoron zelun, zild, Iron zilyn, zyld 'to turn round, to attend upon',
zilag ' host attending guests ' , nizzeldnta kodta ' she attended upon them \ 82

The presence of loanwords in a language like the Hiung-nu would be
possible. These words, however, particularly the milk products, are of a
homely nomadic type which should not be loanwords. Titles, however,

81 Ed. Chavannes, TP 6 (1905), 525 (Wei-lio).

82 Pamiatniki narodnogo tvorcestva Osetin, V (Iron dddmon sfaldystdd) (1941), 157.
See E. Benveniste, Etudes sur la langue ossete (1959), 29-30.

Huna 39

can easily be borrowed and some of the titles have already been treated
as pre-Turkish, whether of Avar or Hiung-nu origin.

A basic problem is the original ethnic name which the Chinese wrote
with the signs ^J iX. . The first has a meaning ' bad ' and the second
means 'slave'. It will have been chosen to degrade the bearers of the
name. But it is rather a phonetic rendering of a foreign name.

The Sogdian letter had xwn in the second (or possibly the third)
century a.d. Khotan was, according to their own poet, devastated by the
people he called Huna. The people called Hiung-nu occupied Khotan in
the fourth century. The Buddhists writing Chinese equated the Bud. Skt
huna- with the Hiung-nu name.

These facts mean that hun- was felt to be the equivalent of Hiung-nu. S3
The similarity is clear. Assuming a word hiun- it can easily pass to a
palatalised h' and be represented by h- or palatalised x' . The syllables are
then identical.

If now these three names, Sogdian xwn, Khotan-Saka huna, and Bud.
Skt huna were attempts to write the name of the Hiung-nu, who were
directly known to them, this would exclude initial fr-, vl- or the like, but
would fit h- passing to h' and x-. The two ethnic names should be
identified.

In the West, in the story of Zoroaster there were enemies of his patron
Vistaspa. The date of Zoroaster remains uncertain. His period was one
of pasturage with some agriculture; but no great empire can be detected
in the oldest poems of the Gathas. This seems likely to mean eastern
ancient Iran by not later than 900 B.C. Much earlier has recently been
claimed. 84

These enemies are called Hyaona- in the Avesta and in later Zoro-
astrian tradition Zor. Pahl. hyon and Pazand hayiin. They are known in
Greek yiovlrai, ep^xt^tovej, Kep/jn^lcjves and ovvvoi.

For these and connected names there is the monograph ' Harahuna ' in
Asiatica, Festschrift Friedrich Weller (1954), 12-21.

The three initial sounds in the Greek forms indicate a foreign h- or a
fricative x- or x'-.

If the name Avestan hyaona- is traced to *hyauna- the Iranian form is
the exact equivalent of Old Indian Vedic syond-. It can be shown that

83 P. Pelliot, JA (1920. 1), 141, expressed the opinion that it was improbable that
the names Hiung-nu, Hunni and Huna were originally distinct. He thought also (Notes
on Marco Polo, 1 (1959), 411) that by the seventh century no true Hiung-nu would be
in question.

84 G. Gnoli, Zoroaster's time and homeland (1980), isgff, has a summary of recent
discussion by T. Burrow, M. Boyce, I. M. Diakonov, and his own views.

40 Indo- Scythian studies

these Indo-Iranian words could mean 'possessor', which is also 'lord',
and suitable for a royal title or a tribal name. 85

In the West of Asia, perhaps at 900 B.C., a tribe Hyaona with a king
with an Iranian name, Arajat-aspa-, later Arjasp, is set in opposition to
Vistaspa-. In the East of Asia from the second century a.d. there was a
tribe with a name which sounded like *hyonah. That is, Chinese ^J §X
K 162, 674 hiung-nu < xiwong-nuo, G 1183 d, 94 1 xiung-no, Jap. kid
(kiou), do, nu, existed, which foreigners rendered by huna-, plural hunah.
To bridge this tremendous gap between the Oxus region and Qamul (at
one time a city of the Hiung-nu) a migration west to east by the eighth
century B.C. could be compared to the migration east to west of the To-
gara people from £a»-ie (Qoyapa) to the Oxus. Later the Avar migration
reached Hungary.

Traces of Iranian (even of perhaps only one group in the Hiung-nu
nomad tribe) can be taken as survivals from the time when the *Hyonah
(Hiung-nu) were at the Oxus with the same name as the Hyaona.

A large list of words and names ascribed to the Hun is printed in
L. Ligeti, Korosi Csoma Archivum, 11 (1926), 16-20, but without the
Chinese signs and without analysis.

THE VERSE OF THE KIE TRIBE AMONG THE HIUNG-NU

An account of the Chinese information on this tribe Ws Kie, K 486 + 548
k(ii-l)ie < k(iwo-l)idt = Mat-, G 49 c, 3 1 3 r k(io-k)idt = kidt, is given by
Ed. Pulleyblank, of the fourth century. 86 A four-line verse is ascribed to
them in the Ts'in ff Dynastic History (265-317). A proposal to see this
verse as a middle North Iranian verse was published in the Monumentum
G. Morgenstierne, 1 (1981), 25-6. The Chinese translated the verse with
the four phrases (1) SfE, (2) Hi, (3) §IJRl#!fi, (4) #£: that is (1) army,
(2) go forth, (3) Liu-yau, xu (Iranian) rank, (4) capture - reading modern
Chinese kiln, ts'u, liuyau xu uei, tso. More fully, this means: 'if the army
comes out, the Iranian (Hu) chief Liu-yau will be seized'. The four Kie
verses are the following: (i)5? $ (2) H^K (3) ^'-ft (\)ty)%^ . I gave
in the earlier article five transcriptions of the Chinese signs. Here those
of K and G will suffice, with modern Chinese signs.

(1) siutsit'ilikan p'u kiie k'u t'u tan

(2) K spu ts'ie t'iei liet kdn b'uok kuk g'iut'uk tan

(3) G siog tieg t'iei lidd kdn b'uk kukg'iu t'uk tan

85 Indo-Celtica, Gedachtnis-schrift fur A. Sommerfelt (1972), 18-28.

86 AM, n.s. 9 (1962), 246-7.

Huna 41

To this the Iranian interpretation can offer: sukacik tiritka bdguk(d)
grauttd ' the army passed over, the bdguka-\za&&r is seized ' .

The Iranian words in the Middle North Iranian are these: suka-
'sent out', hence 'troop', named from sau-: su- 'to send out', as Old
Iranian hai- ' to send out ' haind- ' troop ' ; the -elk is the common adjective
suffix of connexion, and here the adjective as noun. Note that in Wax!
nalcik 'reed' and Yazgulami ydrcug 'mountain' this suffix has not
changed the meaning (but Sogdian yarcik 'mountainous'). In tiritka
'he went out' can be seen Iranian *ati-rixta 'crossed over' from raik-
'to go', as in Zor. Pahl. virek-, virext 'to go away, flee', N Pers. gurey
'flight', and Khotan-Saka parry- 'to cross over', rendering Bud. Skt
atikram-. At a later stage Baloci has -tk- from older -xt-. The title
bdguka- has the form as in Old Indian pdkuka- 'cook' and is like Sogdian
w'ywk *vdyuka- 'hunter', Turfan Pers. w'ywg *vdyuy, from the base
bag- from which has come baga- 'distributor, giver of baxta fortune',
and 'god', Old Pers. baga- rendered by Akkadian ilu. The base grab-
'to take, seize' is in Khotan-Saka grih-: grautta-, Zor. Pahl. gir-: grift,
N Pers. gir-, girift, Sogd. yrfl-: yrfi't.

Three earlier interpretations as Turkish are mentioned with references
in the above cited article. They did not correspond to the Chinese
translation.

In addition to the presence of xu (Hu), ' Iranian ', of the officer Liu-yau,
there is also an obvious etymon of the tribal name Kie, from older K
Mat, G kidt. This gives a name of the type daha- (see below s.v. Gara) in
*katd- an agent noun from kat- ' to fight ', attested in Indo-European kat-
beside kat- 'to fight' (Pokorny, 534), from which (p. 67) the Old Ind.
sdtaya- 'to slay' is taken. 87 The chieftain's name Liu-iau, K 254, 988
Ihu-iau, G 1 1 14 a', 11 24 i liog-diog is clearly Iranian Ruyduka- from the
base rang- as in N Pers. aruydah 'desired' (see DKS 24).

87 See s.v. Gara, p. 135.